By Heather Popa, Account Executive at BizXchange

Members of B2B trade exchanges often think of offsetting business expenses and purchasing personal perks for business owners and employees that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. But members often don’t think about the benefit of being a member if there is ever an emergency in their business or personal lives. When unexpected things happen to a company or a person, they don’t always have the capital to fix the problem or make the appropriate replacements.

Recently one of my accounts, a well-known business coach, had a disaster in his apartment. A pipe burst in his condo (specifically his closet). He came home to find three inches of standing water. ruining almost everything. Fortunately, he was member of a barter network that could help refurbish his condo and he immediately asked for help.

I was able to find him almost $16k in furniture for his condo. His purchases included a new bed, sofa, recliner, bookshelves and a TV console as well as other furniture to refurnish his bedroom and living room. He also bought new tile and hardwood flooring through his barter network, BizXchange.

This was a great way for him to use his balance of barter dollars on an unexpected emergency. By using a B2B barter network he was able to replace the furniture and flooring without spending cash.